Financial Editor Adam O Daniel Reported On The Charlotte...

Financial Editor Adam O’Daniel reported on the Charlotte Business Journal about Prudential pulling a Retirement Challenge stunt at the NASCAR Hall of Fame Courtyard in Charlotte, N.C. â€Å"The company toppled a 30-foot-tall domino stone, beginning with just a normal-size domino, to illustrate the long-term outcome of systematic retirement investing. The stunt involved Harvard professor and best-selling author Dan Gilbert asking bystanders how much money they had in their pockets. He then calculated how much that amount, $45 in one example, would grow into if saved on a weekly or monthly basis. ‘We are our own worst enemy when it comes to saving,’ Prudential VP of Advertising Colin McConnell told me before the dominos fell. ‘We have this†¦show more content†¦It may seem small at first (just like that micro domino), but your tiny investment now has the potential to grow into an unstoppable force over time. You may be setting aside money regularly in a savings or checking account; however, with those traditionally low interest rates you may as well be tossing your dominos in a bag instead of setting them up for increasingly bigger returns. For example if you started with an initial principal of investment of just $5,000 with an average return of 7%, and didn’t put in any more over the course of 35 years – your investment would be worth over $57,000. That’s without you lifting a finger – that’s making your money work for you.† http://relianceretirement.com/the-domino-effect-make-your-retirement-investment-work-for-you/ A report by Nanci Hellmich on USAtoday.com offers some insights. â€Å"Saving aggressively for retirement doesn’t mean you have to live on canned beans and sawdust.† It s easy to make small changes that will make a big difference in your retirement savings, say financial experts Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, founder of AskTheMoneyCoach.com and author of Zero Debt : The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom, and Elli Dai, director of participant services for Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement and Trust. Recent statistics highlight the need for some